Doctor John Dolittle, M.D. is an English doctor who became a doctor for animals after his parrot, Polynesia, taught him to speak animal languages. He lives in the fictional town of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh in England's West Country, along with his many animal friends. He has very few human friends and spends most of his time treating animals, travelling the world with his animals and conducting research into new animals and new forms of animal languages.[1]

Tommy Stubbins is a boy from Puddleby who, after taking an injured squirrel to Doctor Dolittle, becomes the doctor's friend and assistant. His father is the doctor's favourite shoemaker. He first appears in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle and acts as the narrator in all the books that take place after his arrival.[2]

Matthew Mugg is the Cat's-meat-man from Puddleby. He is a friend of Doctor Dolittle and helps to take care of the doctor's house and garden when the doctor is away travelling. He is illiterate but practical, and advises Dolittle to become an "animal doctor" and learn animal languages. He was played by Anthony Newley in the 1967 film.

Prince Bumpo is an African prince from the kingdom of Jolliginki, who has been sent to study at Oxford University by his father, and become a friend of the Doctor's. Bumpo is recognisable by his green umbrella and bare feet - not used to wearing shoes, he usually discards them. Bumpo has been the subject of heavy Bowdlerisation (removal of material deemed offensive, such as racism) in recent years.

He was originally supposed to appear in the 1967 film intact, but casting problems eventually led to his character being considerably softened and renamed as "William Shakespeare the Tenth", played by Geoffrey Holder.[3]

Colonel Bellowes is a snobbish old man in Puddleby who appears briefly in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.

In the 1967 film he became General Bellowes, a retired military commander and a magistrate, played by Peter Bull.

He loathes any sort of new, unusual, or odd ideas, including veterinary science; he rejects that a veterinarian can talk to animals. He owns several dogs, horses and other animals, all of whom betray their owner when Dolittle queries them at his trial about their owner's excesses of food, drink and female companionship.

General Bellowes deals harshly with Dolittle, who then flees the country.

Long Arrow is an American Indian, son of Golden Arrow. He is the world's greatest naturalist, specializing in botany and traveling through the mountains of Peru and Spidermonkey Island. He has learned the language of eagles and thus is able to communicate with Dr. Dolittle. He is featured in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.

The tribal leader of Sea Star Island, a floating tropical paradise. He and his tribe are well educated in literature and history, and each citizen is able to speak several languages. Parents name their children after their favorite authors, hence his name. He is nicknamed "Willy" and was played by Geoffrey Holder in the 1967 film. He never appeared in any of Lofting's original books.

Polynesia is Doctor Dolittle's parrot, an African Grey. She is able to speak English and first taught Doctor Dolittle the language of animals. She always says she can never remember how old she is, but she remembers that when she came to England, she saw Charles II of England, hiding in an oak tree from the Roundheads: "he looked very frightened". Along with Chee-Chee and the crocodile, she decided to stay in Africa at the end of the original story, but returned in later stories. In The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle she is described as grey and scarlet. In the 1967 film she is a blue and gold Macaw.

Cheapside is a Cockney sparrow from east London. He often visits the doctor, to gossip or bring important news. He is notorious for using bad language. He and his wife Becky live at St. Paul's, in the statue of St. Edmund's left ear. He is a recurring character in the books.

The pushmi-pullyu (pronounced "push-me—pull-you") is a "gazelle-unicorn cross" which has two heads (one of each) at opposite ends of its body. In The Story of Doctor Dolittle, the grateful monkeys in Africa persuade it to accompany Dr. Dolittle to England to earn money for him (in Doctor Dolittle's Circus and Doctor Dolittle's Caravan.) The pushmi-pullyu usually only uses one of its heads to talk, reserving the other for eating (thus allowing it to eat while speaking without being rude) and claims that its great-grandfather was the last unicorn.

In the 1967 film, the pushmi-pullyu was instead portrayed as a double-headed llama. The doctor can immediately speak to the pushmi-pullyu, knowing that llamas speak a dialect of camel language. The Eddie Murphyfilm has a brief scene where it is walking in the background while Dr. Dolittle talks to the tiger in the cage. This is in keeping with the fact that Murphy's movie version is only loosely based on the books.[4]

This enormous undersea mollusk with a transparent airtight shell is injured when the mysterious floating Spidermonkey Island finally comes to rest in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. The animals arrange for him to ferry Dr. Dolittle and his party back through the ocean to Puddleby.

In the 1967 film, Dolittle resigns himself to living abroad for the rest of his life due to the price on his head issued by General Bellowes. The [renamed] Great Pink Sea Snail takes Matthew, Tommy, Emma and a host of small animals from the [renamed] Sea Star Island back to England.

Sophie the Seal is rescued by Dolittle in Dr Dolittle's Circus. She makes it apparent to the doctor that she doesn't like life at the circus and wants to return to the sea to find her husband. Dolittle disguises her as a woman and takes her to the sea, but a villager in Brighton witnesses Dolittle throwing her off a cliff and gets him arrested for murder. The doctor is released from jail by the local magistrate, Sir William Peabody, who is an old school friend. In the book this is the last we hear of Sophie, and it is presumed she makes it back to Alaska.

However, in the 1967 film Dolittle is tried and found guilty of insanity by General Bellowes, who commits him to an insane asylum. The animals catch wind of it and help Dolittle hightail it out of town before he can be incarcerated, embarking upon a series of worldwide adventures on the open sea.

When Sophie catches up to him again, he is ensconced upon Sea Star Island. As the Great Pink Sea Snail leaves with his human and animal cargo, Sophie along with her husband and pups informs him that every animal in Puddleby has gone on strike to protest the treatment of Dolittle by General Bellowes. Overjoyed, he enlists the services of the Great Lunar Moth to help him return to Britain.

In Lofting's original books, the Giant Moth makes the arduous trip between the earth and the moon in Doctor Dolittle's Garden and Doctor Dolittle in the Moon.

In the 1967 film, the Giant Lunar Moth travels regularly back and forth between the earth and the moon. When Doctor Dolittle gets good news from England, he ends his exile on Sea Star Island by persuading the moth to make a slight detour and drop him off in Puddleby.